Patience is a virtue, this level is a testament those who can respect its artistic merits and I just so happen to be obsessed with it. Overall pahc summarized the takeaway of this level perfectly, it's so grossly honest with itself that you can't help but empathize with the creator behind it as someone dear.

This level is unbelievably boring. You cannot have a level this long while also giving such long sections with no gameplay, I’m sorry. I can’t really appreciate anything the level is doing because I got so bored going through it. The decoration is really cool and I love the tone it’s attempting to strike, but it seriously misses the mark. Yet, I can’t help but appreciate it just a little bit for its ambition.

EDIT: I lowered my rating from a 5 to a 3. It didn't click with me that the intro to this level is FIFTEEN SECONDS. That's completely unforgiveable in a level this long. Everything I said about the level remains, but I consider it an insult to people's time to waste this much of it on an intro. If fifsqueak goes back and makes the intro skippable at some point I'll raise my rating back to 5, but as is, it sucks.

a look into a truly flawed person who simply cannot stop behaving like they do

Genuinely one of the most emotional levels in the game.

The level has no words, yet says so much in it's 18 minutes, while not skimping out on it's decoration.

Shame this will never be rated or shown to the people it should be shown to.

i’ve been trying to beat this titan of a level for over 2 years by this point. ever since i found it in april 2023 my love for it has stayed constant as my favourite level in the game. polymer 2 letting go is by far, and probably will be for a long time, the most stressful experience i have ever had with this game. although i’ve beaten much harder than this by now, given the balancing being weighted heavily towards the ending and it’s length it becomes more reasonable to say that *this* is the level that has gotten me the most nervous - a 17min 40s long unrated insane demon.

polymer 2 letting go is similar in structure and traits to commatose by rply, both being very long in length, both being geared emotionally and also being within a similar difficulty range. however, i think saying that commatose is a ripoff or a copy of p2lg (or eon, or death) is rather disingenuous. all four carve out their own identity and lumping commatose with eon especially (which i have seen some do) is not really agreeable at all

as cold and lowly the first few moments of this level are, polymer 2 letting go repeatedly blooms with indescribable energy to tell a journey through the fragile, vulnerable mind of its creator facing expulsion from their social circle.

polymer 2 is virtually partially human, as every aspect of it visibly comes from the heart, and it bursts with egoism and emotional fragility. the player, in this level, is a self insert that represents the creator. it is exceedingly cryptic about its messaging, yet cracks in its facade highlight in great detail its inability to hide its forlornness.

despite being only monochrome, and the entire level staying in only 1 gamemode, its beauty and intricacy are clear. it is vibrant, yet a great sadness undertones the journey through the level, as if under a great curse. it’s extremely varied in gameplay patterns too; the entire first half of the level is a prelude to the second half, with minimalist nature-inspired decoration accompanied by a lulling ambience. as tranquil as it is, you still reach out of your comfort zone into the uncharted lands of the second half and come face to face with your demons.

the second half of this level can be split into the predrop and the drop. the predrop is significantly more energetic now and you travel through an increasingly more grounded area of the creator’s headspace that is increasingly evidently damaged by an entity, later revealed to be a hostile messenger that broke off its relationship with the creator. it speaks in tongues, and symbolises the people the creator has wronged, constantly berating them while the player continues to chase them, seeking to right their wrongs with them. you are, in essence, indebted to the messenger, yet you haplessly continue chasing towards this lost relationship.

the drop section of this level represents your desperation. you ride a train (of thought?) that runs in the direction of where the messenger is heading. as the messenger rises into the sky to escape you, you flip upside down and continue the chase on the ceiling of the level as the entire realm breaks down around you.

i can’t help but feel that most of the drop is reminiscent of the ending scene in interstellar [spoiler] where cooper returns home and finds the view of his family home completely transformed. not only because the cylindrical terrain is evocative of the spiral and the flowers but also cooper’s isolation in this new world, parallels the creator’s isolation in their headspace. [end of spoiler]

in a dramatically tragic fashion, the player is eventually struck down at the end of the level, symbolising an ultimatum, while the end credits roll as if the events that unfolded were playing across the world stage, as it seems like the end of the world as the player knows it, and nothing is left except darkness and a single tree acting as a memorial.

gameplay-wise; 40%-42% is the hardest chokepoint in the first half of the level or act 4; it’s not hard by any means but is very easy to mess up and is very deep into the first half. 71%-83% is my favourite part of the whole level and extremely grueling for being so far into the level. dying far into the level, especially during the 2nd half, gives some sense of loss - coming so far into the level yet dying to some easy timing.

given that p2lg is a very unknown level, and the fact that the creator is banned on their old account, it’s safe to say this is not getting rated. but this will not deter me from saying this is one of the only levels that i think is genuinely flawless. it makes me really sad is all

10.0